Mary Ashley

Mary Ashley

Abstract

Finding Families in the Field: Molecular Methods for Studying Breeding and Behavior

In many cases, geneticists may best be able to contribute to conservation and management of threatened species by providing new information on the basic biology of target species. Information on demography, effective population sizes, breeding, and dispersal are needed to develop management strategies, but such information is often difficult to obtain in field studies. Molecular approaches, specifically DNA microsatellite analysis of samples collected noninvasively or nondestructively, can be used to infer familial relationships in the field (parents and siblings). Once established, these relationships can be used to address a variety of issues relevant to conservation. Paternity assignment for chimpanzees included in a long-term behavioral study at Gombe, for example, provides information on the frequency of extra-group paternity and the effectiveness of behavioral avoidance of inbreeding. Additional examples involving extensive field collection combined with molecular identification of sibling groups will be presented, and their relevance for conservation discussed. This approach can be successfully used to gather information about a species at risk or invasive and pest species that threaten other species.

Biography

Mary V. Ashley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Her research interests are in evolutionary biology, population genetics, and conservation genetics and she has worked on a range of plant and animal species. Currently much of her research involves using DNA micro-satellite markers to characterize mating systems, breeding biology and dispersal patterns in species where these parameters are largely unknown and difficult to ascertain by more traditional approaches. She has authored over 30 publications and has mentored more than a dozen graduate students in her lab at UIC. She is on the Editorial Boards of Conservation Biology and Evolution. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego and her B.A. from Kenyon College.

Relevant Publications

Dow, B. D., and M. V. Ashley. 1998. High levels of gene flow revealed by paternity analysis using microsatellites. Journal of Heredity 89:62-70.

Ashley, M. V. 1999. Molecular genetics in conservation biology. American Scientist 87:28-35.

Pergams, O. R. W., R. C. Lacy and M. V. Ashley. 2000. Conservation and management of Anacapa Island deer mice. Conservation Biology 14:819-832.

Feldheim, K. A., S. H. Gruber and M.V. Ashley. 2001. Population genetic structure of the lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris) in the western Atlantic, characterized by DNA microsatellites. In press, Molecular Ecology.

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